Goodreads Hack: Scan the Cover–Critical Linking, May 18, 2017

Have you ever been inspired by a friend’s book collection and wanted to immediately add a slew of her books to your Want to Read list? Or, maybe you’d like a way to quickly check a book’s ratings on Goodreads as you browse through the stacks at your local bookstore or library?

Well, now you only need to point your phone at a book to add it to your Want to Read list, rate it, or see its Goodreads’ reviews. Goodreads recently added a fun new feature to our iOS smartphone app: The ability to scan book covers and barcodes. And as a bonus, several of our readers also seem to like the sparking blue dots feature for their selfies!

The bill makes the head of the Copyright Office, the Register of Copyrights, a presidential appointment that would have to be confirmed by the Senate, rather than an appointment by the Librarian of Congress, as it has been since 1870. The bill also limits the position of Librarian of Congress to a ten-year term.

The previous Librarian of Congress, James Billington, served in the position for 28 years.

Starting May 16, the fast food restaurant is giving the option of books for the “prize” that comes with Happy Meals — though kids can choose to still get a toy if they want (no judgment, because those DC Comics superhero cars last year were pretty fantastic). There will be a choice of two books, and the options will change every two months.